The University of Auckland has been ranked the 29th best law school in the world in the latest QS World University Rankings.
Auckland is up from from 36th in 2017. Victoria University of Wellington has continued its climb upwards, in 38th position this year - up from 46th in 2017.
The QS World University Rankings have been published every year since 2004.
The rankings are designed to highlight the world's top universities in 42 subjects, based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact.
The ranking process relies on four data sets to measure performance - two surveys of academics and employers, and two indicators that evaluate research impact based on academic citations per paper.
New Zealand's six law schools all appear in the rankings for the top 300 in Law. AUT Law School has appeared for the second time after first appearing on the rankings in 2017. Individual rankings are given for law schools in the top 50, and the law schools are then ranked in bands of 50.
Harvard University, Cambridge University and Oxford University were the top three, with Cambridge pushing past Oxford into second place behind Harvard.
QS World Rankings for New Zealand Law Schools, May 2018
| Ranking | Law School | 2017 |
| 29 | University of Auckland | 36 |
| 38 | Victoria University of Wellington | 46 |
| 51-100 | University of Otago | 51-100 |
| 101-150 | University of Canterbury | 101-150 |
| 201-250 | University of Waikato | 201-250 |
| 251-300 | AUT | 251-300 |
QS World Rankings for Law, First 20, May 2018
| Ranking | University | 2017 |
| 1 | Harvard University | 1 |
| 2 | University of Cambridge | 3 |
| 3 | University of Oxford | 2 |
| 4 | Yale University | 4 |
| 5 | Stanford University | 5 |
| 6 | New York University | 6 |
| 7 | University of California, Berkeley | 8 |
| 8 | University of Melbourne | 11 |
| 9 | London School of Economics | 7 |
| 10 | Columbia University | 9 |
| 11 | University of Chicago | 10 |
| 12= | Australian National University | 16 |
| 12= | University College, London | 12 |
| 14 | University of Sydney | 13 |
| 15 | National University of Singapore | 15 |
| 16 | University of New South Wales | 14 |
| 17 | Georgetown University | 22 |
| 18 | University of Toronto | 17 |
| 19 | University of Hong Kong | 18= |
| 20 | King's College London | 18= |